The process that ties all the How to… workflows together is the creation of a job card. A job Card can originate from 2 sources: a quote that has been accepted by the customer and a new job card. The first workflow is of the latter type and details the simplest way to create a Job Card in TSM.

There are 3 job card layouts available. Each uses the same data source – the job card table and associated product, timesheet and customer tables, but each is laid out differently to accommodate a different style of data entry. These are available from Action menu→Job Cards or from the task bar.

1. Go to Action → Job Cards → Job Cards or select Job Cards from the task bar.<
2. Press “New”.<
3. Enter the Customer ID – the other 2 tiers – billing and site customer should populate accordingly. If they do not, enter the Customer ID for the billing and Site customer. Remember that if you do not know the exact customer id, you can search for it.<
4. Go to the Job Logging tab.<
5. Enter the Job name, service requested and select a job Status.
6. Set the Primary Employee.<
7. Set the Due Date.<
8. Set the Start Time.

Note: The 3 steps above will result in a primary assignment being automatically created, if the Job Card Setup 1 Option is switched on.<

1. Enter the Job Name and Service Requested if required.<
2. Go to the Invoicing tab.<
3. Enter the Quoted Parts, Quoted Labour and Service Fee into the fields provided. You can simply enter the entire amount into one of these fields and they will become the job’s total.

Note: Quoted Parts and Labour can be used to price out a job, even though it was never formally quoted. The figures entered there will contribute to the job total and will be displayed on the standard job card.<

1. Press Save.<

This is the simplest way to create a meaningful job card in TSM. It will contain the basic essential information – the customer’s identity, the work required, the employee that is to perform this work and the amount the customer will be charged and an assignment for it will appear on the Visual Assignment Scheduler.

A quoted job is counted as “converted” when the “Quote” box at the bottom of the job card module is unticked and the job is saved. The quote may require some additional information to be added to it after conversion, which strongly depends on your business practices. As is –a converted quote is ready for invoicing. This is because the quoted total will automatically populate over to the job as the job total. Invoicing the job at this point may be sufficient if no extra information is required. There are, however several pieces of information one may wish to add to the job at this point such as work performed, parts used and timesheets.

Converting Quoted parts into actual parts serves 2 main purposes:

• The price has changed on one or more of the parts and the customer needs an itemised invoice detailing the charges.<
• You wish to be able to run Parts Used reports on parts sold.<

Note: Converting the parts does not remove the Quoted Parts value on the Invoicing tab. If you do not wish this value to over-write the parts total based on Parts Used, you will need to zero it out.

1. Go to the Job Details tab.<
2. Make sure the “Show” drop down in the bottom left is set to “Quoted Parts”.<
3. Press “Alloc.Q Parts”. A screen will pop up allowing you to select the parts you wish to apply to the job as actual parts. All quoted parts selected there will be converted into actual parts. You will see them in the Show Actual Parts detail.<

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As you can see from the “creating a quote” workflow – there are several ways to quote for labour. Timesheets may need to be entered after a quote is converted into a job and if a part was used to quote for labour, it may need to be made invisible on the invoice at this point. If the final price for the labour is to come off the timesheets – do not forget to zero out the quoted labour price on the Invoicing tab, as it over-rides any labour sell values entered on the timesheets.

The exact way a job card is entered into TSM will be different from company to company and even from job to job. There simply is no one correct way of doing this, which attests for the great flexibility TSM software provides, but it does not make the present task of documenting it very easy.

A considerable time may pass between the creation and completion of a TSM job. As more information becomes available about the job, it can be entered into TSM. For the sake of simplicity, let’s imagine that all the information required for entering a job is available on paper or otherwise and it simply needs to be entered into TSM. The following steps detail how this can happen. The workflow is broken up into sections by tab, describing what may happen in each section of the module.

Customer Tab

1. Go to Action → Job Cards → Job Cards or select Job Cards from the task bar.<
2. Press “New”.<
3. Enter the Customer ID – the other 2 tiers – billing and site customer should populate accordingly. If they do not, enter the Customer ID for the billing and Site customer. Remember that if you do not know the exact customer id, you can search for it.<
4. Enter the billing customer ID – this is where the invoice is to be sent upon the job’s completion. Once again you can use the looking glass icon to search for it. Remember that a Billing ID can be preset on the Customer record in the Customer Maintenance module.<
5. Enter the Site ID. This is the address where the job is to take place. If the Job Card Setup 3 option for defaulting the site ID to customer ID is on, this will already be populated. Note that a site ID is not necessary – you can simply type in the address. The standard job card report will display this address for the technician to see.<
6. You may wish to change the job’s contact. This can be rather crucial – as the technician may have to speak to somebody at the site to arrange access, etc. This can be done by entering the site contact name and phone number under the Site ID field. If the site ID is present, pressing the search icon will take you to that customer’s Contacts tab. Selecting a name here and pressing Exit will populate the selected contact into the job card.

Having entered this information, you may wish to tick the “Quote” box, if the aim is to create one for a customer. See the quote workflow for more information.

Job Logging Tab<

1. Go to the Job Logging tab.<
2. Enter the Job name.<
3. Enter the service requested.<
4. Select a Job Status. This step is important, because the job status is an intuitive setting to use for reporting on the job’s progress. It can be employed in the Job Centre to allow the user to quickly obtain an overview of ongoing work. Note that the Job Status may be automatically preset using Job Card Trigger settings found on the Job Card Setup 4.<
5. Select the Job Type. This is another drop-down menu which like the Job Status is extremely useful for reporting and job monitoring using the Job Centre.<
6. Set the Primary Employee.<
7. Set the Due Date.<
8. Set the Start Time.

Note: The 3 steps above will result in a primary assignment being automatically created, if the Job Card Setup 1 Option is switched on.

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1. There is a variety of other fields which you can use for storing various information related to the job. On the left there are some reference fields which can be used for recording a reference to paper records or records in another electronic system. On the right there are fields such Service Code, which like Job Status and Job Type can be user in reporting and monitoring. Fill these out as needed.<
2. Press Save. Most compulsory job card fields are located here (see Job Card Setup Page 1 for a list of “compulsory” –type options). If a warning pops up indicating the job card cannot be saved until certain data is filled in you will need to fill it out at this stage.

Assignments & Job Details tab<

1. Enter the assignments for the job.<
2. Add the parts used.<
3. Enter the timesheets.<
4. Enter the Work Performed.<
5. You may use the Fault and repair codes as well as date commenced for reporting/job monitoring purposes.

Tasks

This tab allows you to create taks against the job. These are most commonly used as reminder notes for the TSM operator. A popup warning for due tasks can be enabled on the Employee Maintenance module. See “how to create tasks” for more information.<

1. Press “Save”<

This concludes the job card workflow.

This job can now be scheduled and then invoiced.

Firstly, it should be pointed out that a POS Invoice is still a job – the data is stored on the same table and contains much of the same information as a regular Job Card record does. Assignments, timesheets and tasks cannot be added to POS job. The module is so named because it is designed for a speedy creation of an invoice and a receipt for it. It can be used as a Point of Sales interface. Jobs and invoices created using this screen will only appear in that job card module.

To enter a POS Invoice follow these steps:

1. Go to Action → Job Cards → POS Invoices or select POS Invoices from the task bar.<
2. Press “New”.

Note: The Customer and Billing ID will be populated with a customer if one is entered on Invoices Setup.<

1. If the Customer and Billing customer need to be specified explicitly - enter them now.<
2. Add the products being sold.<
3. Enter any additional charges that may be required: Delivery and Service Fee on the right-hand side of the module.<
4. Enter the discount if applicable. You can specify the percentage by which to discount, or simply enter the dollar amount off from the standard price. Entering the percentage will automatically calculate the percentage.<
5. Enter the Sales Person.<
6. Press “Save”. The Invoice total will be displayed in the bottom right of the screen.<

As the purpose of the POS module is to expedite the progress between the creation of a job and the receipt for it, these functions cannot really be separated form eachother. The invoicing procedure for regular jobs is covered elsewhere, although it is basically the same.

1. Press the Invoice button. You will notice that an invoice number, invoice date, due date and job date completed will appear on the screen. The three date fields can be edited at this point, if incorrect.<
2. If the invoice is due to be paid at a later date, you might want to print it at this point. Press the Print Invoice button and select the node of delivery from the resulting box.

Accepting Payment

The customer has decided the method and amount of payment.<

1. Enter the Payment Type.<
2. Enter/change the Taxcode is applicable.<
3. Enter the amount Tendered on the right (if any) and press “Save”. The payment will be automatically created. You can press the “Receipts” button to review it.<
4. Alternatively simply press the “Receipts” button.

Note: If amount tendered was entered the payment will be generated automatically based on the amount. No overpayment will be created in the case where amount tendered > amount owing. The change due will be displayed in this case.<

1. In the case where no amount tendered was specified enter the cash receipt.<
2. Finally enter the delivery docket.<

This concludes the POS Invoice workflow. The invoice can be printed for the customer – the standard invoice layout will feature the parts used as well as the amount due and paid.

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Once the work has been performed and all the data entered, the job can be completed.

In TSM a job counts as complete when it has a completed date.

Note: Even if a job has the status of “Completed”, it’s completed date may be blank, meaning that the software does not recognise it as completed. It will not appear on reports filtered for “completed jobs” for instance. This may occur if a user un-completes a job by removing the completed date but forgets to reset the job status.

The Completed Date field is found on the bottom left of the 3 job card layouts.

To complete a job you need to:

• either press the “Complete Job” button on the Invoicing tab or the front of the POS invoice layout – the field will be populated with the current date & time and the job status may change to “Completed”, or whatever the trigger is set to on Job Cards Setup Page 4, or.
• Enter the Job Completed date manually or by double-clicking on the field (current date & time).

…then press “Save”.

If the Job Completion trigger on Job Cards Setup 4 is not set to anything and the job status needs to be updated to reflect that the job has been completed, go to the Job Logging tab and change the status accordingly. Press Save again.

Right-clicking on the Notes button at the bottom of the Job Card module displays the Audit Trail. All important changes to the job will be logged here. Each entry can be stamped with the date, time and Employee ID, based on settings found on General Setup (top right – “Memo Field Stamping”).

This feature is very useful for tracking the progress of a job. If a status is set incorrectly or the job is completed erroneously – the Audit Trail will reveal when and by whom.